Don’t be worried, folks, but I’ve been thinking about death a lot.
I will die.
I am not afraid of dying. I like life, right now, but I know that one day I will die and then I don’t know what will happen but I think probably ‘nothing’ is what will happen to me. If there is no me then there is no ‘happen’.
I have, in the past, tried to kill myself; people have stopped me, which is appropriate because it is people that are the reason we are here. We are social animals, each the warm centre of our little social galaxy. We love, adore, cherish, befriend, we have so many words for the ways we profit from each other. I love some people. They know who they are (I bet a few of them will comment here!) and they, I hope, are glad of my love as I am glad of theirs. And I hate other people. Which is odd, because hate and love are, as Shakespeare himself noted, both driving forces. In fact, I’d say they are the only driving forces behind our species. The only ones that count, anyway.
I love life, in all its forms, with a few exceptions. I hate pathological organisms. Some of these aren’t even really organisms- HIV-1, for example, is a virus and extremely pathological- but I hate it. Some of them are microorganisms- I really hate cholera and I long for the day when developing countries and disaster areas can be free of this sewage-borne killer as we are in the developed world.
And some of them are macro-organisms. If you’re one of these, you’ll know about it, because when it comes to telling people what I think of them I exercise no restraint. See, this comes back to what I’ve said above. I’ve lived a turbulent life and I’ve been through it all. I’ve done things most people could never imagine, and I’ve seen things most people wouldn’t believe. I want to experience more, I want to experience as much as life can offer me, and that means time is short. I don’t have time to mess around pleasing you; if I don’t like you, I’ll just tell you so.
This has, of course, led to friction in the past. And it is leading to friction now. But I prefer that friction to the utter death that is being nice to someone I can’t stand. Do you see? This is why I can’t just shut up. This is why I can’t help it. It’s compulsive; I have a sort of Tourettes of the opinion. If you want me not to argue my point, then it’s very simple:
Be less wrong.
How hard is that to understand?
Seriously.
I love you! ;-)
Came here via Gia’s blog….love this post..wish I could be as gutsy…you have given me a goal to stride towards
One could wax lyrical about raging against the dying of the light, or even Lister’s more emphatic opinion on Death of “If he comes near me I’m gonna rip his nipples off!” but, ultimately, being a thoroughly miserable sod I’d have to go with Uncle Eddie’s sage advice on the subject:
"Look, you get born, you keep your head down, and then you die.
If you’re lucky!"
I will die someday (shock!) and according to what I believe in that’s it for the Frink. Bye bye, so long, t’ra, smell ya later! And it won’t have made a fuck’s worth of difference to anything much. A tiny fraction of people might have more influence, but even that will be worth bugger all after a few decades. Short of some sort of alien or temporal recording device sucking up all our data for some reason unknown, we will exist and think no more.
Like Jas, I’ve considered cashing in my chips, but, frankly, I wouldn’t have got much, and it would have barely covered the bar tab. If we live or not, there’s billions of years before and after us where we won’t exist. Whether we existed or not is going to have had little effect on anything much (Scrooge be damned!). So why should we care what we do, or how we’re remembered? All I can say is here and now there are consequences and, being the swollen brained primates that we are (of some genus or other) we can predict the future somewhat and know how our actions will affect others and our surroundings.
Everyone could die tomorrow and the universe wouldn’t care, or raise an eyebrow-shaped cluster, but for us on this planet it matters. Here and now, to someone or something or in some way, we matter. That’s the best I can say for this existence cobblers, apart from the fact that if you’re reading this then you’re very, very lucky indeed. Plenty don’t even get the chance to worry about this philosophical, meaningless, soul-searching wank.
One other point.
Who, or what, defines what is wrong?
If people don’t want you to argue with them they should either agree with you or not say anything. You have no monopoly on rightness.
You have been wrong, I recall. It may be grounds for a national holiday of some sorts but it does happen!
If I’m wrong, prove it and I’ll agree with you. It’s as simple as that.
I suspect proving you wrong is far from a simple matter ;0).
You know how to use the scientific method, dontcha Johnny? You just put your lips together and… oh, no, wait.
Isn’t it funny how people always say they want the Truth, but when you tell them Your Truth – how you Feel- then they tell you that you’re wrong? And if I’m “wrong” about things that I Feel, then surely they are capable of being “wrong” about things that they Feel… aren’t they?
And the most interesting thing is how the people that become fanatical about The Truth and claim to find evidence of it everywhere from a dental xray to a grilled cheese sandwich are the ones who are most Against the Truth when it’s purely Fact-based.
Interesting…
You are absolutely fabulous, Jasmine, and don’t let a single person tell you otherwise. You are a gem…xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My mother just told me today that maybe my purpose in life is irritating Christians. She said I’m very good at it…. if only I could get paid to do it… :)
The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long – and you have burned so very, very brightly…
I want more life. (You’re not fuckers. Except for Frinky there, and he’s quite happy to be a fucker. :-) )
And a jolly nice Pink Floyd reference to. Personally, I’m looking forward to the Great Gig In The Sky.
Woops. Sorry Gia, didn’t see your comment there in the huge pile of spam comments. So sorry. :-( Look Around You was rubbish :-(
“Look Around You was rubbish”
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
“Look Around You was rubbish”
This is a sweeping statement! It was the first programme in an entire new series. Just wait for the other programmes before condemning it. Even so, there’s always Series 1 on DVD, which is pant-wettingly sublime. Buy it now. Thanks, Robert and Peter. Throbeter.
I already have the Look Around You series 1 dvd, and I agree that it is awesomely fantastic. The new series, though, has completely failed as far as I can tell to repeat most any of the things that made the last series good. The shaky presentation, the quickfire delivery, the wonderfully deadpan voice acting- none of these things are really present in the new series.
I am not impressed.